Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me.
--Emma Lazarus
Companion of the Companionless,
let my day not go by without remembering
the sixty-five million people forced from homelands
due to poverty, crime, and political conflict.
Home of the Homeless,
gather the shawl of your compassion
around those who have nowhere to abide,
nowhere to call home, nowhere to work.
Nurturer of the Impoverished,
turn the attention of political leaders
toward systems that cause oppression;
urge them to open their doors to refugees.
Comforter of the Injured,
the prophet Hosea describes your love
as that of a parent lifting a child to her cheek.
Lift, now, the demoralized and beaten-down.
Refuge of the Lost,
protect those who are tossed upon the seas.
Be near to those thirsting in the deserts
and roaming dangerous city streets.
Hope for the Hopeless,
lift up the heavy hearts of families
who have lived for years in camps;
do not let their hope slip away.
Justice Bringer,
bother us. Keep after us. Open our eyes.
Widen our hearts. Change our judgments.
Urge us. Chase us. Badger us, until we act
on behalf of the sixty-five million people
whose tears fall on foreign soil.